


Of Absolutes and Absolution

by SwirlsOfBlueJay



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Coda, Episode Tag, Gen, The Abominable Bride, mentions of drug use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-01-02
Packaged: 2018-05-11 04:30:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5613970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwirlsOfBlueJay/pseuds/SwirlsOfBlueJay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mycroft is an absolute. Episode tag for The Abominable Bride.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Absolutes and Absolution

Mycroft is an absolute. 

Sherlock knows this. There is one singular certainty in his life: when he falls, Mycroft will catch him. 

Sherlock hates it. He hates that he is still trying to catch up. He hates that his risks never have consequences. He hates that he can never own his recklessness. He hates that the leap is a lie when he knows Mycroft will always catch him. He hates that all his actions are childish misadventures under the watch of Mycroft’s omniscient eyes. He hates every time Mycroft protects him: every drug lapse, every trespass onto a forbidden base, every cover up and every escape plan. 

He hates that they used to joke Mycroft would still manage to catch him from a multi-storey drop. And hates that it isn’t just a joke anymore. 

And most of all he hates the lists. 

Mycroft is an absolute. 

Every time Sherlock will write a list and every time Mycroft will be there to hand it to. 

He hates it because he knows Mycroft is not an absolute. 

One day Mycroft will give up on him. One day Mycroft will die. 

So Sherlock pushes and pushes and pushes, trying to make the lack of permanence okay. Even Mycroft must die some day; his power and position will likely make it sooner than most. Sherlock runs the numbers often. Spurns his brother every chance he gets. 

Yet Mycroft still remains, a stubborn absolute. 

Yet Sherlock still writes his lists. This one last kernel of trust he can’t bear to breach. He cares and Mycroft knows it. 

Mycroft is not an absolute. 

He will die before Sherlock does. 

Sherlock reminds himself every chance he gets, scrubs it onto every room of his mind palace, every corner and crevasse, and shoves it into every all-powerful omni-present Mycroft he finds in there, standing over him. 

Forces death like a macabre spectre into every marble absolute that haunts his palace halls: 

Mycroft is not an absolute.

Mycroft will die. 

Sherlock writes another list. 

And somehow Mycroft once more forgives him.


End file.
